Poison
by xxTemarixx
Summary: So take my life, I'll hand it to you, and you can try on my clothes, but you can't fill these shoes. /Dark!Friendship. Platinum Pair/


**A/N: Um, this is some more random stuff that popped out. I've had this idea in my head since I first listened to the song, which is "Poison" by All Time Low. Go check them out, they rock. But anyways, this may be a bit confusing and you might need to reread it to completely understand it. This is a different, darker perspective on the whole 'switching' Niou and Yagyuu do. Lyrics in **_italics_** and I recommend listening to the entire song while reading this. Enjoy~  
><strong>

**Disclaimer: I do not own Prince of Tennis or the song "Poison" by All Time Low.**

* * *

><p><em>I've got a house in the back of my head, but I can't find a permanent residence. 'Cause the market's down and the area's not so good these days.<em>

Niou had heard these words while ago when one of their English transfer students was singing them during class one day. He normally would have tuned her out but he found himself drawn to the lyrics. There was something about them that reminded him of the past few weeks. As he kept listening, he realized how well they matched his life.

He had felt something dark lurking in the back of his mind then, and he couldn't find a way to control it. It was an unfulfilled void and it was destroying him. He didn't know what it was that was lurking; he couldn't describe it - it was just there. It was so dark he didn't know what could fill it or if anything could.

_I've got a watch but I don't have time. I got a road and it leads to decadence. But a dead end sign waits down the line, leave my footprints for the evidence._

It had started making its appearance a few weeks ago. He had been studying when he remembered Yukimura telling him to find a partner because Singles wouldn't work for him just yet. Niou knew this was true but never thought about it. He wasn't a dependent person but he couldn't completely stand on his own. No one could.

Then that feeling appeared. The feeling of something creeping in his mind had started to irk him. It didn't tell him words, or make rude remarks. It made Niou feel empty and incomplete. He wanted to fill it, but he didn't know how. He had tried everything and now time was running short.

He had tried to make new friends to fill the emptiness, soon realized as loneliness, but that didn't work. As he attempted to find something to fill the void, he felt himself breaking, and Niou didn't want to break. He didn't want to reach the dead end sign.

Then he met Yagyuu. The gentleman had finished golfing when Niou approached him and asked him to join the tennis team as his doubles partner. After some arguing, Yagyuu joined.

Niou was inwardly ecstatic. When Yagyuu agreed, he felt the void fill. It was gone, and he wasn't lonely anymore - he felt complete. The two became best friends and everything was fine.

Until Niou suggested the switching idea, and he realized that a little part of that void was never filled.

_You drank the poison and I, I let you in. Would you trade that heart of gold for a minute in my skin?_

He never realized that by switching places, Yagyuu would have to become completely like him. From the quirks to the actions to his thought process and beyond. And Niou's thought process was dark.

No one would have thought he was some wacko-kid, and he wasn't. He had his fair share of family problems and his own personal problems. It was the way they affected him that made his thinking dark.

Now that Yagyuu was having a taste of that, Niou felt terrible. The gentleman had a heart of gold but he knew the teen wanted a change. He wanted to be reckless and bad for once. So he traded his innocence just to be in Niou's shoes.

And Niou baited him. The poison the girl sang about was the opportunity Niou gave Yagyuu, the chance to fill Niou's shoes even if it was only for a while. Yagyuu threw away all he knew just to be Niou, and even if he would go back to his normal self, the scars would still be there. Being Niou meant thinking darkly, and Yagyuu did just that.

_So take my life. I'll hand it to you. And you can try on my clothes, but you can't fill these shoes._

Yagyuu was Niou, and Niou was Yagyuu. Niou gave Yagyuu control over his life, letting him try on his clothes and actually _be_ Niou. The void was never filled because Yagyuu couldn't ever be the real Niou.

He could act exactly like Niou and talk just like him, but he could never have the Niou touch. There would always be something missing, so Yagyuu could never be the perfect Niou no matter what.

That's what pained Niou. He didn't realize this until it was too late, until Yagyuu had been corrupted. He never meant to hurt anyone, he just wanted to win at tennis. It was true that he did enjoy being Yagyuu, but it never felt quite right.

_On a silver platter, your wish came true, see your heart of gold turned platinum._

Yagyuu's wish had come true thanks to Niou but there were consequences. Niou didn't know how to feel about the matter. It was his fault for suggesting the idea without thinking it through, which was new for him. Yagyuu got to be someone else at the cost of his sanity and innocence. It wasn't worth it in Niou's opinion, but he couldn't do anything about it.

He had found a way to fill the void and keep it filled, only to realize it wasn't completely full. He made a mistake and watched his best friend suffer, because no one can actually be you but yourself.

_You can take my life but you can't take it with you._

They kept switching because Niou couldn't stop Yagyuu. Yagyuu wanted to keep switching and even if it destroyed him, Niou owed him. He let Yagyuu become him and he continued to become Yagyuu. They were the perfect actors, the most amazing tricksters. They took over each other lives, and Niou did enjoy being someone else.

But in the back of his mind, that void still taunted him, reminding him that nothing could ever replace the loneliness he would forever suffer. Yagyuu could be Niou all he wanted, but no matter how much he wanted to be Niou, he couldn't. Niou would always be secretly alone, no matter how much of the void Yagyuu.

Yagyuu couldn't and never would be one hundred percent Niou, because no one could ever be Niou but Niou, and Niou was somehow okay with that.

Even if it killed him so much from the inside out.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: I hope you liked it. I love the "heart of gold turned platinum" because Platinum Pair ftw. XD By the way, this isn't romance in case you thought it was.  
><strong>

**Comments? Questions? Criticism? :)  
><strong>


End file.
